Electrical boxes, such as telephone line building entrance protectors, include a base having an interior space for housing electrical components. A cover is provided to close the base to prevent moisture and foreign matter from entering into the interior space of the base and contaminating the electrical components. Often, the cover is attached to a side of the base by a hinge, or a plurality of spaced hinges. The hinge allows the cover to be easily pivoted relative to the base, thus permitting access to the electrical components. The cover may include electrical components mounted thereon, such as LEDs, fuses, jumper terminals, etc. Therefore, it is desirable to ground the cover to the base to power the electrical components, as a safety measure, and/or to ensure the minimization of electrical noise.
The hinge, which connects the cover to the base, is usually constructed from an electrically conductive material, however the hinge is not an adequate electrical connection between the base and the cover. First, the hinge includes a loosely housed hinge pin. The hinge pin is loose so that the cover can be freely pivoted relate to the base. The loose mounting of the hinge pin results in poor electrical conductivity between the base and the cover. Also, the looseness of the hinge pin allows moisture and other contaminates to surround the hinge pin. The presence of contaminates causes corrosion, which further deteriorates the conductivity of the hinge.
As a solution, the background art provides a grounding cable connecting the cover to the base. A first terminal, at one end of the grounding cable, is attached to a bare metal portion of the base. A second terminal, at the other end of the grounding cable, is attached to a bare metal portion of the cover. The grounding cable is of sufficient length so that the cover may be pivoted about the hinge to access the electrical components in the interior space of the base.
The grounding cable of the background art suffers several disadvantages. First, the opening and closing of the cover causes fatigue and possibly breakage of the conductors of the grounding cable. Over time, the grounding of the cover may be lost, or become noisy. Second, the length of the grounding cable must be elongated to allow the cover to open fully. The elongated length of the grounding cable results in a loop. The loop is susceptible to being caught by a tool of a service person, or caught between an edge of the base and the cover when the cover is closed. Either circumstance can damage the conductors within the grounding cable. Also, the loop can accidentally be abutted against an electrical component within the base. Crosstalk between the grounding cable and the electrical component can occur, and the physical pressure of the grounding cable can result in an unplugging of the electrical component. Third, the grounding cable must, of course, be provided and installed. Often, by human error, a service person will simply forget to connect the grounding cable.